British university educated engineer Jarno Smeets claims to have achieved
birdlike flight with a set of man-made wings in a video that has spread
rapidly around the internet.

“I have always dreamed about this. But after eight months of hard work, research and testing it all payed off,” Mr Smeets said on his YouTube page.

Claiming to have based his bird-like contraption on sketches from his grandfather, the project can be traced from its origins on the Dutch mechanical engineer's website.

After studying at the University of Coventry, Mr Smeets claims to have worked with neuromechanics expert Bert Otten to create a design based on the mechanics used in robotic prosthetics which helps to give his muscles extra strength.

However, according to the former Coventry student, his own body strength was only capable of providing five per cent of the necessary power so to make up the shortfall he fitted extra motors to the wing suit.

When he landed after the 60-second flight, he said: “At one moment you see the ground moving away, and then suddenly you’re free, a really intense feeling of freedom. The true feeling of flying. A ******* magical moment. The best feeling I have felt in my life.”

However, the video has prompted a wealth of online speculation as to whether the flight test is indeed genuine.

One eagle-eyed viewer has pointed to the sudden appearance of sunglasses on the person adjusting Mr Smeets' camera before take off as proof that the success of the wing suit may owe more to clever editing techniques than mechanical engineering.

But, another online viewer makes the point, "I don't know anyone who would put those costs into a youtube video just for the hell of it."

Others seem happy to accept the video as a clever piece of fakery and a wonderful piece of entertainment.

&lt;noframe&gt;Twitter: Paul Hempsall - This is probably fake, but I can dream can't I? Man flaps his wings to fly like a bird &lt;a href="http://t.co/8IXRxmnV" target="_blank"&gt;http://t.co/8IXRxmnV&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/noframe&gt;

Genuine or not, the short video is certainly popular and has now been watched nearly 800,000 times in a little over a day.